June 23, 2021 (Rimini, Italy): Canada made an impressive comeback today to beat Serbia 3-2 (17-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-20, 17-15), after being down two sets to none in its final match of Volleyball Nations League.

"We’re all very happy with the outcome of the match. Our guys showed a lot of poise and a great fighting spirit coming back from two sets down," said head coach Glenn Hoag. "There’s a lot to build on as we prepare for Tokyo.” Canada has not yet announced its Olympic roster.

This was Canada’s fifth win in a row at Volleyball Nations League, and although the team did not qualify for the finals (which begin June 26 for the men), they put teams such as Serbia in jeopardy of advancing. Canada will finish in the middle of the standings with seven wins and eight losses. Today’s matches are still not complete: standings are here.

In the post-match interview, team captain Gord Perrin said: "I'm just really proud of the way we fought, especially coming back from 0-2. ...We found something in us and we were able to stabilize and play the game and we are happy that we won. Our reception broke down very badly in the first two sets - they were serving well - but we had to be better, we managed to stabilize our reception and everything else followed." 

Perrin (Creston, BC) had 14 points in today’s match; Ryan Sclater (Port Coquitlam, BC) was top scorer for Canada with 17 points.

Perrin said later today: "It took us several games to be comfortable on the court together... of course we expected some growing pains as we are all getting back to playing together, but we played poorly the first three weekends. Reflecting after the VNL, we’ve made some big improvements in all aspects. We still have some work to do before the Olympics but now we will head to Turkey (for a training camp) and prepare for the ultimate challenges ahead."
 
The women’s team concluded their tournament on Sunday. See info here.

Recap of recent Canadian results:

Week 5 (Men)
June 23
CAN vs SRB 3-2 (17-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-20, 17-15)
June 22
CAN vs AUS 3-0 (25-17, 25-8, 25-20)
June 21
CAN vs NED 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-19)

Week 5 (Women)
June 20
BEL vs CAN 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-17)
June 19
THA vs CAN 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-17)
June 18
CAN vs ITA 0-3 (18-25, 20-25, 20-25)

Week 4 (Men) 
June 17
JPN vs CAN 0-3 (22-25, 23-25,18-25)
June 16
CAN vs GER 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-21)
June 15
CAN vs POL 0-3 (22-25, 23-25, 19-25)

Week 4 (Women)
June 14
KOR vs CAN 3-2 (15-25, 25-18, 27-29, 25-20, 21-19)
June 13
RUS vs CAN 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-14)
June 12
CAN vs SRB 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 25-18)

 
For full VNL results and updates, see the event web site:
https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/vnl-2021/

Photo: FIVB

Volleyball Canada media contact:
Jackie Skender
Mobile: 613.794.7676